Saturday, November 28, 2009

Welcome. My name is David. I like Saabs.

I am a Saab guy. Some know me as Saab Guy. You can refer to me as whatever you'd like, but the truth is, I love my Saab.

My latest Saab is a 1993 Saab 900S. I have yet to be privileged enough to own a 900 Turbo, but that is certainly on my to-do list (not the one I will be talking about in my next post however).
My first car was a 1991 Saab 900S. She treated me pretty darn well (except for the nasty idle problem) from when I first sat in the driver's seat clear on through to when I sold her. However, she left my hands soon after I was rear-ended in some nasty fog, totaling the car (it bent the monocoque chassis).

From there, I briefly stepped into a 1990 Volkswagen Corrado G60. WOW was that car fun to drive. And WOW did that car have a lot of problems. Corrados have never been known for their... reliability, but this one was beyond imagination. The previous owner would do whatever it took to keep it on the road and driving while spending as little money as possible. I found electrical tape holding the knee bolster in place for instance. Repairs like this were common underneath the hood as well. Surprisingly, when the throw-out-bearing gave way, I got rid of the car.

This brings me to my longest relationship to date - my 1988 Saab 900S. I owned this car for one year and 2 months I believe (the '91 Saab for seven months, the Corrado for four). I learned almost everything I know about working on cars with this Saab. Even before I knew how to change an air-filter, I got the lucky chance to replace my head gasket. You can only imagine what an undertaking that was.
I never did find out what was leaking pouring oil onto the ground, but something I did during that repair caused an oil... seepage. Because of the large engine oil puddles, I never noticed that transmission oil was also leaking. Soon after the car was back on the road with a new head gasket, the transmission needed replacing. Once again, the car was in the garage for a couple months. Back on the road again only to find out a couple months later, there was a TERRIBLE rattle which drove me nearly crazy trying to diagnose - I went as far as replacing the timing chain guides even. That turned out to be nothing more than loose flywheel bolts which I had not torqued to spec during the tranny replacement.
This poor Saab also had an idle problem that I never was able to diagnose correctly. As far as I'm aware, both the current owner of the '88 and the '91 have idle problems to this day.

Today however, I'm living the good life. My dear and loving uncle kicked in enough money to cover the difference in sale and buying price of my '88 and this current '93. He then proceeded to drive from his house in Washington D.C. to my dorm room in Terre Haute, Indiana to deliver the car.
And might I say... this car idles correctly!
I've owned it for two months now I believe. Mechanically, I couldn't ask for more. I have yet to find any problems at all with the engine. There are as many little things wrong with this car as there are stars in the sky. You know how it is: the harder you look at the sky, the more stars you see... that's how it is with this Saab. But more on this in my next post.

By the way, my name is David Zemon. I'm a freshman electrical engineer at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Rose is highly regarded, though unknown, engineering school in Terre Haute, Indiana. For those on the west coast familiar with Harvey Mudd and its prestigious second place award by U.S. News and World Report, Rose-Hulman is that pesky little school that's been beating you for 11 years now. Anyway, someday I'd like to have a job designing new CPUs (processors) for computers, but who knows if I'll still want to do that when I graduate. I am quite a fan of swimming as well - for eight years I swam at my local YMCA and finished my career with a 1:13.02 in the 100y breaststroke (my best event).

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About Saab Guy

I love Saabs. That's all you really need to know.
If you insist on more however, here's some quick info: I'm a junior electrical engineering student at Missouri University of Science and Technology (MS&T). - I grew up all around St. Charles County, a suburb of St. Louis, MO. - I was a swimmer for eight years at my local YMCA and my best stroke was breaststroke. - Did I mention I like (old) Saabs? Yea, its true. I do.